Sealed beam headlight mounting



Jan. 13, 1959 N. P. WORDEN 2,868,961

SEALED BEAM HEADLIGHT MOUNTING Filed April 20, 1955 IN V EN TOR..

A OrZer; f 14 076797? 2,868,061 I SEALED BEAM HEADLIGHT MOUNTING NorbertP. Worden, Detroit, Mich., assignor to C. Hall Lamp Co., Detroit, Mich.,a corporation of Michigan Application April 20, 1955, Serial No. 502,680

6 Claims. (Cl. 240-415) This invention relates to lamp mountings, and isexemplarily embodied in a housing for a sealed-beam type head lamp.

In the presently conventional practice, head lamp assemblies comprise ahousing or body portion adapted'to be mounted on the automobile, abowl-shaped mounting ring adjustably secured to the body portion, and asealedbeam unit retained in position in the mounting ring by an annularmember known in the trade as a bezel or door. This bezel is customarilysecured to the mounting ring by screws engaging aligned apertures in aplurality of overlying pairs of projections on the door and the mountingring.

Since the external diameter of the mounting ring is substantially thesame as the internal diameter of the adjacent portion of the housing, itis necessary to deform the periphery of the housing to provide a seriesof inner depressions or cavities, with corresponding outerprotuberances, to provide clearance for those projections and screws. Asa consequence, the adjusting screws may be recessed into the depressionsin the housing and, depending upon the adjusted position of the mountingring relative to the housing, may be so tilted relative to the lamp axisas to render them difiicult of tightening and of removal for lampreplacement, particularly when the housing itself is recessed to asubstantial degree in the automobiles fender. Further, the protuberances(normally in number) on the outer periphery of the housing necessitate afender cut-out of involved configuration.

The objects of this invention are to improve the rigidity :and stabilityof lamp mountings, to simplify the initial :mounting of lamp housings onautomobiles and to simplify the replacement of lamps in their housings.

The manner of accomplishment of the foregoing ob- 'jects, and otherobjects of the invention, will be perceived tion; Fig. 2 is a sectionalview taken substantially along the line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken substantially along the line 3--3 ofFig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a sectional view taken substantially along the line 4-4 ofFig. 1; and

Fig. 5 is a sectional view taken substantially along the line 5-5 ofFig. 1..

Referring first to Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawings, the lamp assemblycomprises a generally bowl-shaped body member having a rear circularcylindrical portion 12 and a forward cylindrical portion 14 which islarger than the rear portion 12 and which is joined thereto by anannular flange 16. At the line of junction between the rear portion 12and the flange 16, aninwardly extending fillet 18 of substantial radiusis formed to establish a bearing surface.

atent Ofiice A generally bowl-shaped mounting ring 20 is seated withinthe lamp housing 10 and is provided with a plurality ofcircumferentially' spaced ridges 22 adapted to engage the bearingsurface 13 of the body 10 in the well known manner. At its forwardmostedge, the mounting ring 20 is curved outwardly and reversely' to form aflange 24- and is then again curved outwardly to form a lip 26,

To retain the mounting ring 20 seated within the body 10, one end ofeach of a pair of interjoined springs 30 (Fig. 1) is attached to anindividual clip 32, integral with the mounting ring 20, and the point ofinterjunction of the two springs 30 engages a retaining lug 34 (Fig. 3)affixed to the forward portion 14 of the body 10. A slotted lug 38(Figs. 1 and 2) is provided at each of two points around the peripheryof the lip 26 of the mounting ring 20 and each of these lugs 38 isengaged between the head 40 and shoulder 42 (Fig. 2) of an adjustingscrew 44 which engages a nut 46 retained in position relative to theforward portion 14 of the body 10 by means of a lug 48.

In order to form cavities 50 to accept each of the adjusting screws 44,a protuberance 52 is formed at each of two points along the surface ofthe forward portion 14 of the body 10. These protuberances 52 arepreferably so formed that the surface 14 remains cylindrical, butdeparts from circularity at these two points. During adjustment, theridges 22 on the mounting ring 20 remain in engagement with the bearingsurface 18 on the body 10 so that the mounting ring 20 essentially tiltsor rotates, with the ridges 22 sliding upon the bearing surface 18.

A lamp 56 is seated within the mounting ring 20. Lamp 56 may be abulb-reflector-lens assembly or, preferably, a sealed-beam unit, ineither case being provided with an annular lip 58 by means of which theunit may be retained in position. Lamp 56 is retained in position by anannular bezel 60, also commonly labeled a door by the trade. The surfaceof the bezel 60 is primarily circular cylindrical, but it is providedwith an inwardly turned flange 62 adapted to engage the lip 58 of thelamp 56 throughout its length, as rnay best be seen in Fig. 4 of thedrawings. i

At a plurality of points around its periphery, exemplarily three, astrip of the bezel material 60'is rolled from the rear edge of the bezelbackwardly upon itself to form a sleeve 66 (Figs. 1, 4 and 5), the innersurface of which serves as a bearing for the shank portion of a springsteel clip 68. Each of the spring clips 68 is provided with two armswhich diverge from one another as they extend rearwardly of the totalassembly, and each of those arms terminates in a hook portion 70. Whenthe lamp 56 is assembled to the mounting ring 20, with the bezel 60 inplace, the hook portions 70 of the spring clips 68 extend behind andunder the lip 26 of the mounting ring 20 so as tightly to secure thebezel 60, and hence the lamp 56, to the mounting ring 20.

In order to replace the lamp 56, a screwdriver or other similarelongated thin-edged tool is inserted from the 26 so that the bezel 60and the lamp 56 may be removed.

When the new lamp 56 is inserted in the mounting ring 20 and the bezelreplaced, the spring clips 6S may be restored to their shown position byemploying a screwdriver to lift and force the hook portions '70 over thelip 26. These operations may readily be performed even though themounting ring 20 has been titled to a very substantial angle by means ofthe adjusting screws 44 and even though the entire lamp assembly is verysubstantially recessed within the fender of the automobile with whichPatented Jan. 13, 15559 5 6 lip on said mounting ring, and a pluralityof tubular 2,279,595 Phillips Apr. 14, 1942 sleeves integral with saidbezel and each rotatably sup- 2,647,984 Falge Aug. 4, 1953 porting theshank portion of an individual one of said 2,680,804 Goldman et a1. June8, 1954 spring clips.

h 5 FOREIGN PATENTS References Cited 1n the file of thls patent 113,554Great Britain Feb 28 1918 UNITED STATES PATENTS 535,924 France Feb. 2,1922 1 5 43 Ritz Weller J 17 1923 173,623 Great Britain P 1922 1 3 4 076M h Oct 25 1932 320,122 Great Britain 06L 1929 2,266,329 Mead et a1 Dec.16, 1941 10 732,581 France J1me 1932

